Tomorrow is the feast of the Annunciation, so I would like to write about that today. I think that what we think about this story says a lot about what we think about many things. Does God force Mary to be the mother of Jesus? Would it have been wrong for Mary to say no?
The actual text of the story is not very clear about all this. However, there has been a long-held tradition in the Church that Mary was perfectly free to say no, and that God would not have held it against her in the slightest. I think this is a wonderful interpretation of the story.
There are several implications to this view. Choice becomes extremely important: the choice of a woman whether or not to become pregnant, and the choice of a person whether or not to collaborate with God in the transformation of this world.
Mary chooses the hard, terrifying, wonderful thing. Not out of fear of sinning, or simply out of obedience to God. Rather, she says yes freely. It was an act of grace.
Which brings us to the question I want to end this blog post with: what might we say yes to?
Philip
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